Online Personal TrainerCircuit Training...

During the first stage of any training regime, especially with entry level athletes, any strength training will give some improvements in strength development. As the athlete starts to build a better strength foundation a new program should be developed to maximise the athlete’s natural abilities. Every athlete will have certain strengths and weaknesses. Some athletes find it very hard to run fast, but are naturally good endurance runners, whereas some people find they can sprint fast but hate endurance running and find it very difficult. Every person is different and will adapt differently in response to exercise.

The starting phase of fitness is called the anatomical adaptation phase which is designed to adapt the muscles to cope with heavier loads during the later stages of training. Load training should ideally be increased without too much discomfort to the athlete.

Circuit training is great when used to develop the foundations of strength training before starting the other training phases.

Circuit training will includes body weight exercises, medicine balls, light weights and any piece of equipment that the trainer wishes to use. Circuit training is only limited by the imagination of the person designing the circuit. A short circuit may include 6-9 exercises, medium 9-12, or long 12-15 exercises and can be repeated several times depending on the number of exercises included. When working out the number of stations, repetitions, and the weight of equipment the athlete must consider their fitness level. Total workout during the anatomical adaptation phase should not cause discomfort . See the over training article to learn more about the signs and symptoms.

Circuit training is great for building the foundations of strength, however there are other approaches. Circuit training should always alternate muscle groups, which aids recovery. The rest intervals between each station can be anywhere between 60-90 seconds, with 1-3 minutes between circuits. Variety is important with circuit training and is only limited by ones imagination.

Circuit training is used by many military forces worldwide to build muscular endurance in athletes. However other forms of training are also conducted in order to build muscular strength, speed and power (depending on the military force).

I personally know a Hungarian champion boxer who only ever did circuit training and boxing training to get to his professional level. He was of muscular build with a very powerful punch. This is perhaps not the norm as most athletes will include weight sessions to improve muscular strength and if the athlete needs to bulk up then muscular hypertrophy will be included prior to a muscular strength stage.

If in doubt as how to progress your training then visit the training phases article which explains the different stages of training and the principles behind them.

Do not ever miss out the anatomical adaptation phase of training as this is certainly one of the most important phases. Too many people jump straight into weight training and end up injuring themselves of not seeing any particular results. If you train right and use the fundamental principles then you reach your goals (if they are realistic). If you look at movie stars they quickly add muscle mass, for example Will Smith in Ali and then are able to quickly tone down for their next movie. This is because Actors like Will Smith use personal trainers who apply the training principles and stick to them.